The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning
From Spyropedia
 Coverart | |
| Developer: | Krome Studios |
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| Release Date: |  October 10, 2006  October 27, 2006  November 2, 2006
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| Platform: | Gameboy Advance, Xbox, Playstaion 2, DS, Gamecube, Mobile |
| Rating: | OFLC: PG |
| Genre: | Action |
The Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning is the first game in the Legend of Spyro trilogy and is also the 6th Console Spyro game. It exists on Gamecube, Ps2, GBA, X-Box and Nintendo DS. The game serves as a reboot to the Spyro franchise with a whole new story starting from scratch, new characters and a dramatic change to old ones. Entirely new gameplay and much more. The console versions were developed By Krome Studios and the Nintendo DS version was developed by Amaze Entertainment. The Game is set before The Legend of Spyro: Eternal Night
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Gameplay
Legend of Spyro: A New Beginning has a big difference in gameplay compared to other Spyro Games. Its genre falls more on the action side with abilities such as melee combo moves which spyro executes by using his head and tail, these moves can be aerial or non-aerial. Four different elemental breaths (just like in Spyro: Enter the Dragonfly and Spyro: A Hero's Tail) which include ice, fire, electricity and earth. And fury attacks which are huge bursts of elemental energy. Spyro doesn't rely on his glide ability as much and collecting items and playing minigames is non-existent. The game has fewer levels than previous Spyro games, with six levels that progress from a starting point towards a final destination and boss encounter in a linear fashion, the game also features 2 rail shooter style flying levels adjoining them. The DS version has additional attacks and challenges. As well as breath attacks and furies, Spyro can create an elemental shield around himself that protects him from enemies while hurting attacking enemies. Also, the DS version has extra side missions in the form of puzzles.
The Elemental Attacks
Fire:
- Normal (Square)- A jet of fire that burns enemies.
- Special (Triangle)- Shoots a ball of fire that exploudes, damaging enemies.
- Fury (R2)-
Electricity:
- Normal (Square)- A stream of lightning that throws enemies around, doesn't do much damage.
- Special (Triangle)- Releases globes of electricity that bounce enemies and keep them in the air, making them easy to melee. Doesn't do much damage.
- Fury (R2)-
Ice:
- Normal (Square)- A stream of icy air/liquid that freezes enemies, causing average damage (depends on the enemy's size).
- Special (Triangle)- Fires sharp ice shards rapidly, does moderate to higher damage.
- Fury (R2)-
Earth:
- Normal (Square)- A short range blast of air that does heavy damage.
- Special (Triangle)- Fires a globe of air that, when it hits something, forms a small tornado there which sucks nearby enemies in it. Does heavy damage to captured enemies (doesn't work on bosses).
- Fury (R2)-
Story
Plot
The game begins inside a temple, where a large red dragon named Ignitus is watching over a batch of eggs; it is the "Year of the Dragon", a time every twelve years when new dragon eggs are brought to the realm. A dragons' prophecy tells that every ten generations, a rare purple dragon will be born, who will direct the fate of that era; Ignitus is looking after such an egg.
The dragons are, however, at war with an enemy known as the "Dark Master" who also knows of the prophecy, and lays siege to the temple, intent on destroying the brood of eggs. Ignitus escapes with the purple dragon's egg, leaving it to drift downriver into a Swamp, hoping for the best. The egg is discovered by a family of dragonflies, and upon hatching, the young purple dragon (which they named Spyro) is adopted into the family and raised as one of their own, alongside Sparx, a young dragonfly born the same day.
One day, after coming under attack by strange foes and discovering that he can breathe fire, Spyro is told that he is not a dragonfly himself but a stranger from a distant land; Spyro decides to leave the Swamp in search of his true home; Sparx, though reluctant at first, decides to follow along. Spyro is pursued by hostile forces, but eventually comes into contact with a distraught Ignitus, who although pleased that Spyro is alive, fears that with the Dragon Temple under occupation by their enemy, and led by an enemy dragon named Cynder, their war is already lost.
Spyro convinces Ignitus to lead him to the Temple, and is able to drive Cynder's forces out, after which Ignitus tells Spyro more about their war against the dark armies, offers Spyro some training in the art of the fire element, and then sends Spyro off to rescue three other dragons from Cynder's forces. One by one, Spyro clashes with Cynder's armies, rescues the three other dragons, while acquiring new skills and training along the way. It is learned that Cynder has been draining the dragons' power into crystals, and also that Cynder herself is merely a pawn serving the Dark Master -- Cynder originally being born from the same brood of eggs as Spyro, meaning they are siblings.
Cynder, however, attacks Spyro shortly after he rescues the final Dragon Guardian, Terrador; Ignitus intervenes to fight Cynder but is captured. It is revealed that it was the four dragons who originally sealed away the Dark Master, and that Cynder is using the dragons' drained powers to weaken the seal. Ignitus' power is the final key in unsealing the Dark Master, so Spyro is sent on a final, direct assault against Cynder's fortress.
Spyro attempts to fight Cynder, but Cynder succeeds in draining Ignitus's power of fire into a crystal, and escapes to the sealed realm of the Dark Master. Ignitus fears that it is too late to stop her, but Spyro pursues Cynder to Convexity but finds that he has been too late, for Cynder has been successful in using the magic crystal. But even though he knows that he has been defeated, he forces a showdown, eventually using all of his power in a final attack which defeats her, purging her of the Dark Master's influence and returning her to her true form, a young dragon the same size as Spyro. The realm begins to collapse in on itself; Sparx insists on making a quick exit but Spyro declares he will not leave Cynder behind with the Dark Master; though barely, Spyro is able to grab Cynder and escape safely. It is odd why the spell used by Cynder (The Crystal) didn't end up releasing the Dark Master, even though she succeeded.
Though victorious, the battle cost Spyro much of his own strength and powers, and both Spyro and Cynder suspect that the Dark Master is still alive somewhere; the war is still not over.
Reception
The game received mixed reviews, most critics describing the game's direction, graphics and high-quality cinematics as an improvement to the series. Yet others criticized the game for being strictly linear and differentiating from older Spyro games. The game was also criticised for being too repetitive in gameplay.
The game also received mixed opinions from fans, some liking Spyro's change in direction to a more story-based, in depth, darker game. While other fans disliked the overall gameplay and the sheer difference between the game and older Spyro games.
